E-mail Print (15) Comments Text size Share Buzz up!A Southbridge woman is hailing her 5-year-old pit bull as a hero after the dog was stabbed multiple times while protecting her from an enraged boyfriend wielding a 12-inch serrated knife.

“She’s my hero,” Marie Wells, 31, said of Princess, who is hospitalized on the grounds of the Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. “I was not injured thanks to Princess.”

Wells said Princess sustained three major stab wounds, including a six-inch laceration and others that nearly went down to the bone. She said Princess began nipping at her boyfriend, Eric Reyes, 30, while the couple were arguing at 1 a.m. Wednesday in their apartment.

“She did not attack him,” Wells said. “She was in front of me trying to protect me.”

Reyes is being held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing Monday in Dudley District Court, said Timothy Connolly, a spokesman for Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.

He pleaded not guilty to charges of animal cruelty, assault and battery, violating a restraining order and other charges, Connolly said. His attorney did not return a message seeking comment.

Princess, who weighs about 42 pounds, has had several surgeries to repair stab wounds and is taking pain medication, Wells said.

When the stabbing started, Wells said she told Princess to back off, and she did. After the attack, Reyes began hugging Princess, applying a towel to her wounds and apologizing, Wells said.

Wells said Princess was rushed to the Grafton hospital after losing a significant amount of blood but is now expected to survive.